Snowden in Russia: A timeline of events
August 5, 2013, 5:01 am

Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who leaked vital intelligence to the media on US domestic and overseas surveillance, has finally left Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after a 38-day ordeal. Below is a timeline of events since he left Hong Kong, his temporary refuge since leaving the US on June 15.

June 23 – Snowden arrives in Russia but is not permitted to leave the airport because US authorities canceled his passport the same day.

57 founding members, many of them prominent US allies, will sign into creation the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Monday, the first major global financial instrument independent from the Bretton Woods system.

Representatives of the countries will meet in Beijing on Monday to sign an agreement of the bank, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. All the five BRICS countries are also joining the new infrastructure investment bank.

The agreement on the $100 billion AIIB will then have to be ratified by the parliaments of the founding members, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.

The AIIB is also the first major multilateral development bank in a generation that provides an avenue for China to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest-growing region.